


I'll See You Tonight

by lqchangkyun



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Banter, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 09:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18192497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lqchangkyun/pseuds/lqchangkyun
Summary: A person’s soulmate manifests in dreams. You can hear their voice and talk to them, but you have no way of knowing what they look like. There have been different reports as to finding your soulmate, but it’s different for everyone. You’ll just know them when you see them.Alternately, Mark and Donghyuck are soulmates, but they just don't know it yet.





	I'll See You Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> This idea is from my best friend, Emilia, so all idea credit goes to her. I just decided to bring it to life in the form of a Markhyuck fic.

“Are you getting clearer, or is that just me?” Mark said. 

“Just you,” the voice said. “You still look like TV static.”

Mark turned over onto his side, the dream wavering slightly. 

“Stop moving,” the voice said. “You’re giving me whiplash.”

“In a good way, I hope,” Mark said, attempting to be flirty.

“If vomiting is a good way, then yes.” 

The voice had appeared in Mark’s dreams last month. The guy is sarcastic, bordering on rude, he refuses to laugh at any of Mark’s jokes, but demands that Mark laugh at his, and he always makes passive aggressive comments about Mark’s appearance, even though they can’t see each other. 

But he’s Mark’s soulmate, so he’s going to have to put up with him. 

A person’s soulmate manifests in dreams. You can hear their voice and talk to them, but you have no way of knowing what they look like. There have been different reports as to finding your soulmate, but it’s different for everyone. You’ll just know them when you see them. 

“I’m waking up,” the voice said. “God, I hate school.”

“Enjoy your first day,” Mark said. “Make friends, please, preferably ones that think you’re funny.” 

“Imagine thinking I’m not funny,” the voice said. “Your taste is bland.” His form started flickering.

“See you tonight,” Mark said. The voice scoffed before disappearing. 

Mark’s eyes flew open to the sound of his phone alarm blaring. He switched it off with a groan. No more sleeping in until three; school had started. 

It was Mark’s senior year of high school. He was able to get out of bed with that thought. Only one more year of waking up at seven in the morning and spending ten hours in a brick building of hell before he was free. 

Jaemin slapped him on the back when they met up in front of the school. “Senior year!” he said. “You excited?”

“Excited to graduate,” Mark said as they walked inside. The familiar bustle of nervous freshman with their schedules clutched in their hands greeted them. Jeno emerged from the throng, joining his two best friends.

“I heard we got a new kid,” he said. “He’s gonna be in our class.”

“A new kid?” Mark said. “I feel bad for them.”

“We’ll be their friends,” Jaemin said. His eyes practically sparkled at the words ‘new kid.’ Jaemin had to befriend anybody who needed it. His generous, extroverted, soft heart couldn’t handle watching someone in solitude. 

“We’ll see,” Mark said with a laugh as they found their classroom and walked inside. There were name tags sitting on the desk tops. Jeno groaned as they searched for their names. 

“Assigned seats are so freshman year,” he said. He plopped down in his seat in the front next to the door. He threw his backpack on the ground in protest.

Mark found his seat on the opposite side of the room by the window. He put his backpack on the floor next to his seat. He glimpsed at the name tag in front of him. His eyes widened. He shook his head and rejoined Jeno and Jaemin.

“How come you guys get to sit together, but I have to sit in the front on the other side of the room?” Jeno pouted. “I can’t even be on my phone.” 

“You shouldn’t be on your phone anyway,” Jaemin said. “You should be paying attention and learning.”

Jeno waved him away. More kids started to file in, the room filling with the buzz of voices. 

“Is that the new guy?” Jeno said. He was trying not to be obvious in his pointing, but failed. 

Mark turned in the direction he was pointing. The new guy floated around the room, head held high, eyes skipping over the name tags in search of his. He slid into the desk in front of Mark’s backpack. 

His face turned, Mark got a glimpse of his profile, and his head exploded into pain. 

He gripped his head in his hands, bending over. The throbbing started to die down, but it persisted right behind his eyes. 

“Are you okay?” Jaemin said, his voice notching up a few octaves in worry. “Do you need to go to the nurse?”

Mark shook his head, although that made the room start spinning. He plopped down onto the cold tile, trying to regain his bearings. “I’m okay, just need a minute,” he said.

What had that been? Where did that pain come from? As soon as he had seen the new guy, the pain had been unbearable. It had completely receded now, but he was afraid of moving too fast. He didn’t want to pass out on the first day of senior year. 

The teacher walked in, raised her eyebrow at Mark sitting on the floor, but said nothing. He stood up, waving off Jaemin and Jeno’s concern before walking to his seat. The pain came back, but duller, as he stared at the back of the new guy’s head. His hair was dark brown. 

Mark’s head didn’t stop hurting through the first few lessons. He couldn’t focus on anything the teacher was saying, only on the throbbing and why it was there. The new guy’s head bobbed when the teacher asked if they understood, it lolled during a boring lesson, it turned towards the window. The pain worsened when Mark took in the slope of his nose, the natural pout of his bottom lip, his eyelashes that hung low over the eye he could see. 

When the bell rang for lunch, Jaemin and Jeno immediately ran over to him. “How are you feeling?” Jaemin said. 

“I’m fine, guys,” Mark said with a laugh. “Don’t worry.”

“What happened?” Jeno said.

Mark shrugged. “I don’t know, just this random pain came out of nowhere.” 

“If you need to go to the nurse, let us know,” Jaemin said, his mom voice peeking through.

“Don’t worry,” Mark repeated. He opened his lunch and took a bite out of his sandwich. “I probably just need to eat.” 

The new guy suddenly swiveled in his chair and locked eyes with Mark. They both winced at the same time. The new guy’s eyes widened like he recognized Mark, but then his face went blank, replaced with a friendly smile. 

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he said. “But are you okay?”

Mark blinked. “Yeah, I’m good,” he said. 

“I’m Donghyuck, by the way,” he said. “I would shake your hand, but they look busy.” He gestured to the sandwich in Mark’s hands.

Mark laughed. He put the sandwich down and extended his hand.

Donghyuck gave him a look. “You’re not going to wipe your hand off first, Mark Lee?” he said. 

Mark blinked again. His voice. It felt so familiar. And the snarkiness. Even though they had just met, Donghyuck was acting like they had been friends forever. 

He wiped his hand on one of his napkins and extended it again for a handshake. Donghyuck shook it firmly before giving him a smile. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

“How do you know my name?” Mark said.

“I’ve been stalking you for a while now,” Donghyuck said nonchalantly. When Mark’s expression turned wary, Donghyuck laughed. “I saw your name tag earlier,” he amended. 

Mark laughed. “I figured.” He opened his box of rice and offered some to Donghyuck. 

“I have my own lunch,” he said. “You think I’d come to my first day at a new school without food? My mother loves me.” 

Mark turned to look for Jeno and Jaemin so he could exchange incredulous looks with them, but they were gone. He turned back to Donghyuck. 

“I would hope your mother wouldn’t let you starve,” Mark said. 

They ate in between their banter. Mark’s head continued to hurt, especially when Donghyuck laughed. The familiar feeling was almost choking him, but it felt like when something is right on the tip of your tongue; you know what you want to say, but your brain and your mouth refuse to work together. 

Lunch ended and the teacher came back into the classroom, looking more ready to go home than she had in the morning. The afternoon lessons flew by, the bell ending the day. 

“Do you want to hang out with me and my friends?” Mark asked Donghyuck as they were packing up. “We go to a cafe nearby.” 

“You go to a cafe everyday?” Donghyuck said. “You must be made of money.”

Mark huffed as they stood and walked over to where Jeno and Jaemin were waiting by the door. “I don’t buy anything every time, dummy,” he said. “We just like the atmosphere.” 

“I’ll get to witness Hipster Mark talk about aesthetics?” Donghyuck said. “I’m in.”

They walked to the cafe, their chatter filling the afternoon air. Jeno and Jaemin took to Donghyuck quickly; they got to experience being on the receiving end of Donghyuck’s sarcasm like Mark had earlier in the day. 

The bell above the cafe door chimed as Mark led the way to their usual booth. Jeno and Jaemin slid in across from him while Donghyuck sat next to him. 

“Are you ordering anything today, Mark Lee?” Donghyuck said. 

“You can just call me Mark,” he said. “I’ll order a coffee to celebrate the end of the first day.”

“Hot or iced?” Donghyuck said.

Mark looked at him with an affronted expression. “Who drinks hot coffee in the summer? Do I look crazy to you?” He held up a hand and said, “Don’t answer that.” Donghyuck’s mouth closed, but the ends of it curled into a smile. 

They stayed in the cafe for a few hours before the sun started to set. Jeno and Jaemin waved as they walked towards their bus stop. 

“Where do you live?” Mark said.

“You do realize how weird that sounds, right?” Donghyuck said. 

Mark rolled his eyes. “What direction?” he said. “Do you ride the bus or just walk?”

Donghyuck started walking down the sidewalk in answer. Mark jogged to match his footsteps. 

Mark wanted to go to sleep so he could hear his soulmate’s voice. Something tugging in his gut told him that Donghyuck was his soulmate, but he didn’t want to confront him until he was absolutely sure. Everyone said you knew when you saw them. That might explain the blinding pain from earlier, but he had never heard of the experience being painful. 

When Mark got home after he and Donghyuck had split ways, he showered and got into bed after stuffing his face with dinner. A full stomach always made him tired. He wanted to hear his soulmate as soon as possible. 

“Took you long enough,” the voice said. “I’ve been waiting forever.” 

Mark’s heart fell to the bottom of his feet. The voice was different. It sounded distorted, not like he remembered it. It wasn’t Donghyuck’s voice. 

“How early did you go to sleep, grandpa?” Mark said. His tone was light, but his heart felt like a rock in his chest. 

He had been hoping it was Donghyuck. The way they had instantly connected seemed like something that would happen to soulmates. He had never felt that comfortable with someone when first meeting them, not even Jeno and Jaemin. He wanted it to be him. 

“Something wrong?” the voice said. 

Mark got out of his dream head. “No, why?” 

“Don’t lie to me,” the voice said. “I can feel something wrong. We’re soulmates, remember?”

Mark saw no point in hiding it. “I met someone today,” he started. “Someone I thought would be you.” 

He could feel the voice’s hesitation. “I did, too,” he said after a while. “But your voice doesn’t sound like his.” 

Mark could feel his disappointment. He wanted to give him a hug or say something to console him, but he couldn’t think of anything. 

“I’m gonna wake up,” the voice said suddenly.

Mark panicked. “No, wait, why?” he said. “You don’t want to talk?” 

“I don’t feel like being funny right now,” the voice said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, though.” He disappeared. 

Mark opened his eyes and checked the time. Four in the morning. He had to be up in three hours for school anyway. He got out of bed and played games on his computer until his alarm went off. 

He didn’t talk much to Jeno and Jaemin when he got to school. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion. Donghyuck walked in, his feet dragging across the tile as he took his seat in front of Mark.

“You look terrible,” he said, the bags under his eyes meeting Mark’s. 

“Ditto,” Mark said, putting his head down on his arms. “I didn’t sleep well last night.” 

The bell rang before Donghyuck could answer. The teacher jumped right into the lessons. Mark didn’t bother trying to keep up. The warmth from the sun wrapped around him like a blanket. He closed his eyes and immediately slipped into sleep. 

Donghyuck appeared behind his closed lids. Mark nearly yelled in surprise. 

“Mark?” Donghyuck said. 

“What the hell?” Mark said. The voice that he’s heard for a month came from Donghyuck’s mouth. “You sound like him.”

“You sound like him,” Donghyuck mirrored. “You’re him.”

“You’re sleeping in class right now?” Mark said with a smirk.

“Did you wake up after I left last night?” Donghyuck said, his words coming out harried. “Did you stay up? Is that why you look so tired?” 

“Yeah,” Mark sputtered. “Slow down.” 

“You’re my soulmate, Mark Lee.” He promptly disappeared. 

Mark snapped his eyes open just as the lunch bell rang. He sat up and locked eyes with Donghyuck. 

“Please give me a hug,” Donghyuck said. 

They both stood up and embraced, the warmness of it overriding the sun’s rays beating through the glass of the window. The hug felt so natural, so innate to Mark. It felt like he had been waiting for that hug the entirety of his life. 

“Not to sound like a cheeseball,” Donghyuck said into Mark’s neck, “But I’m really glad it’s you.” 

Mark pulled back to look into Donghyuck’s eyes. The sun caught them and illuminated them, the chocolate brown making Mark’s knees go weak. 

“Now I can pretend to laugh at your jokes in person,” Mark said. 

Donghyuck hit him on the shoulder. “I have the rest of my life with you to make sure you laugh for real,” he said. 

Mark smiled and pulled him in for another hug. “I’m glad it’s you, too,” he said. “I’m glad I don’t have to hear you only in my head.” 

“But I’ll still visit your dreams,” Donghyuck said. “I sleep better after I’ve talked to you.” 

They pulled away from each other as Jeno and Jaemin approached them. “I can’t wait,” Mark said.


End file.
